ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

August 30, 1990

LACLEDE STEEL COMPANY

)

Petitioner,

)

v.

)

PCB 88—115

)

(Permit appeal)

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD (by J. Anderson):

This matter comes before the Board on an August 29, 1990 joint

motion for continuance of hearing scheduled for September 7, 1990.

The parties assert that the hearing officer on verbal motion has

verbally refused to grant the requested continuance based upon the

age of this case. According to the parties, the hearing cannot

proceed as scheduled due to the pendency of negotiations with the

Agency and USEPA concerning this RCRA Part A permit. The parties

allege that this proceeding is interrelated with both a pending

USEPA administrative proceeding and a federal court action. The

parties state that “because they did not intend to go forward

with a hearing on September 7, 1990, they have not conducted any

discovery, have not conducted a pre—hearing conference, and have

not served or responded to admissions of fact.” Lastly, the

parties argue that “because critical legal issues affecting the

permit appeal must be resolved between USEPA and Laclede in civil

and administrative cases before Laclede and the Agency can resolve

those matters, and because the parties wish to continue to resolve

the matter without hearing, the parties believe that an extension

of 120 days is necessary

... .

The Board is disturbed by the parties failure to prepare for

a scheduled hearing and by their failure to notify the Board in a

timely manner of their intent not to proceed with hearing on

September 7, 1990. However, in the interest of administrative

economy, the Board grants the motion for a 120—day continuance.

In granting this motion, the Board does not fault the hearing

officer in seeking to move this case forward as instructed. Any

future motions for continuance predicated upon the parties’ failure

to complete preparations for hearing will likely result in

dismissal for want of prosecution.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

M. Nardulli, J. D. Dumelle and 3. Theodore Meyer dissent.

,‘~-7 !~~

---

2

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certi~ythat the above Order was adopted on the

~3~2’~day of

_____________

,

1990, by a vote of

______

~

~.

~

Dorothy N. Gu~n, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

I 1/4—746